Common Response to the Aleppo Statement on the Date of Easter/Pascha North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, Washington d.c., October 31, 1998

1. In March 1997, a consultation jointly
sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the Middle
East Council of Churches, meeting in Aleppo, Syria, issued
a statement "Towards a Common Date for Easter."
The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation,
meeting in Washington, DC, October 29-31, 1998, studied this
Aleppo Statement and reviewed reactions to it thus far. Our
Consultation strongly endorses the Aleppo Statement.

2. The Aleppo Statement rightly calls attention
to the centrality of Christ's resurrection as the basis of
our common faith. As "the ultimate expression of the
Father's gift of reconciliation and unity in Christ through
the Spirit," the resurrection "is a sign of the
unity and reconciliation which God wills for the entire creation"
(paragraph 5). Yet by celebrating the feast of Christ's resurrection,
the Holy Pascha, or Easter, on different Sundays in the same
year, "the churches give a divided witness" to this
mystery, "compromising their credibility and effectiveness
in bringing the Gospel to the world" (paragraph 1). The
question of the date of Easter/Pascha, therefore, is not simply
an academic issue, void of pastoral implications. It is a
matter of concern in our own North American context. It has
become an even more urgent issue in some parts of the world
such as the Middle East, where Christians constitute a divided
minority in a larger non-Christian society.

3. After reviewing 20th-century discussion
of the question of a common date for Easter/Pascha and historical
background to present differences of calculation among Christians,
the Aleppo Statement recommends:

maintaining the norms established by the
First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325 AD), according to
which Easter/Pascha should fall on the Sunday following the
first full moon of spring, and

calculating the necessary astronomical
data (spring equinox and full moon) by "the most accurate
possible scientific means," using the Jerusalem meridian
as the basis for reckoning.

4. Noting that in the year 2001 the Paschal
calculations now in use in our churches will coincide, the
Aleppo Statement also recommends that, in the interval between
now and then, the churches study and consider means to implement
these recommendations.

5. Our Catholic-Orthodox Consultation welcomes
the Aleppo Statement's recommendations for the following reasons:

The Aleppo Statement does well to call
attention to the continuing relevance of the Council of
Nicaea--a fundamental point of reference for the traditions
of both our churches--and in so doing, to reject proposals
to establish a fixed date for Easter/Pascha.

As the Aleppo Statement points out,
the Council of Nicaea was willing to make use of contemporary
science to calculate the date of Easter/Pascha. We believe
that this principle still holds valid today. Scientific
observations about the cosmos reveal the goodness and wonder
of God's creation, which he embraced in the incarnation
of his Son. Moreover, to deny an observable truth about
the world is to reject God's gift to us. As they witness
to God's love for the world, our churches need to use the
findings of contemporary science as did the Fathers of Nicaea.

The Aleppo Statement accurately presents
historical circumstances relating to such matters as the
Council of Nicaea's treatment of the relationship between
the Christian Pascha and the Jewish Passover. The practice
of continuing to celebrate Pascha according to the ancient
Julian calendar has often been defended, by some Eastern
Christians, as resting on a decision associated with that
council prohibiting the churches from celebrating the Paschal
feast "with the Jews." As scholars of both our
traditions have very clearly demonstrated, this prohibition
was directed against making the calculation of the date
of Easter depend upon contemporary Jewish reckoning, not
against a coincidence of date between the two festivals.
In fact, a coincidence of Passover and Easter dates continued
to occur from time to time as late as the 8th century. Only
later, when the increasing "lag" of the Julian
Calendar made any coincidence impossible, did the prohibition
come to be misinterpreted as meaning that the Jewish Passover
must necessarily precede the Christian Passover each year.

In short, we consider that the implementation
of the recommendations of the Aleppo Statement would allow
our churches to adhere more exactly to the mode of calculation
mandated by the First Council of Nicaea.

6. As the Aleppo Statement indicates, its
recommendations will have different implications for our churches
"as they seek a renewed faithfulness to Nicaea."
For the Eastern churches, "changes in the actual dating
of Easter/Pascha will be more perceptible than for the Western
churches" (paragraph 13). The fact that the recommendations
of the Aleppo Statement substantially repeat proposals already
developed by the Orthodox themselves in connection with their
preparations for a Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox
Church should significantly enhance the Aleppo recommendations'
prospects for success. At the same time, as the Aleppo Statement
notes, in many of the Eastern churches adherence to their
present method of calculation often has been a symbol of the
Church's integrity and freedom from the hostile forces of
this world. Implementation of the Aleppo recommendations in
these circumstances must proceed carefully and with great
pastoral sensitivity. The material presented in the Aleppo
Statement can be of great help to these churches should they
attempt to carry out this effort to be faithful to the great
tradition of the Church.

7. The Aleppo Statement is faithful to
the decisions of the First Ecumenical Council regarding the
date of Easter/Pascha. At the same time, it takes into account
the contemporary situation, which calls for a common witness
to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the central
mystery of the Christian faith. Our consultation therefore
urges our churches to give serious consideration to its recommendations.